Awaiting Vengeance
by FrozenFire13
Summary: Dr. Annie Townsend is a microbiologist working for SHIELD when she is kidnapped along with Agent Clint Barton and Dr. Erik Selvig by Loki. The difference between her and Clint Barton? Annie didn't go willingly. She resists the mind control and discovers she can do a lot more while imprisoned. If Loki can use it, it's over for the Avengers. Will she be strong enough? Avengers AU
1. The Girl Who Resisted

**Disclaimer: Do I even need to say it? Oh yeah, copyright issues. I own nothing Disney/Marvel own. Of course.**

**THIS TAKES PLACE DURING AVENGERS, HENCE AVENGERS AU! This first chapter is basically the first part of the movie with an OC. So there will be elements from the movie.**

The room was chaos. Everywhere white lab coats dashed around, attempting to figure out why the small blue cube had started emitting energy signatures off the charts.

"Annie! Find out exactly when the cube activated. It might be something related to the time," an older gentleman called out. A woman looked up and swore under her breath.

"Erik, I am not a time analyst, I'm a microbiologist. And don't you think the time analysts would have already done that?" she yelled over the ruckus.

"Well do it anyway! We've got no leads right now and this thing could start giving off high levels of gamma radiation any second. Go!" Annie shook her head and looked at all the cameras in the room. There were at least a dozen of them, any of which she could use to access the video footage. She looked up at the Hawk's nest and decided that would be the most accurate and best position. Maybe she could even see if something around it triggered it.

The Hawk was just coming down from there, heading towards Director Fury. "Agent Barton, may I head up to your station? I need to review the footage of when the Tesseract was activated and that has the best vantage point," she explained.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just don't mess with anything else up there," he said, blowing her off and walking away. She glared at him, there was no need to be rude, and went to the foot of the ladder, tucking a stray brown hair behind her ear before climbing up. It didn't take long and soon she was opening the panel to the computer that was at the bottom of the station and reviewing footage.

Annie glanced down after several minutes, getting more and more irritated that she wasn't finding anything. The light from the cube was getting brighter and brighter. A second later it burst into a line straight towards the landing pad that had been set up. She instinctively ducked down onto the floor, hidden by the yellow metal walls around the base of the station. When she peaked up again, there was a man there, a staff in hand. He was wearing black and green armor. From the distance she couldn't make out much, how Agent Barton did was beyond her, but the man obviously had Director Fury on guard.

"Sir, please put down the spear," his voice echoed. The man didn't seem to hear him. One minute there was dead silence and the next the man had leapt into the air and was shooting off beams from the spear at everyone in sight. The bullets didn't have any affect and soon most were lying either dead or unconscious, she couldn't tell. Annie gasped and ducked back down. No blue lights of death flashed in her direction, so she assumed that she was safe and looked back at the scene.

Agent Barton wasn't fighting the man. In fact, he had just put his gun away. _What the hell… _Annie wondered. Her eyes flicked to the other side of the room where Director Fury was attempting to get out with the Tesseract. He didn't make it five feet.

"Please don't. I still need that," the staff-man said.

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury said.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose," Loki said. This guy was freaking crazy. But the name was oddly familiar to Annie.

"Loki, brother of Thor," Erik said with slight wonderment. That's where she knew the name! Erik loved to spend his breaks telling every one of Thor and his experiences in New Mexico, which included Loki sending The Destroyer to kill every one in town. This guy was bad juju.

"We have no quarrel with your people," Fury continued.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Loki was obviously the boot. He had the finest marksman in the world on his side somehow and several other guards. If it were between Loki and Director Fury, Loki would win, as much as she hated to admit that to herself. Annie recovered and remember an emergency procedure that could keep the mess contained to that room.

Tapping a few keys, she opened up the emergency screen and typed in the code as quietly as possible. She gave her thumbprint and an eye scan to complete it. The screen turned green with the word "ACTIVATED" across it, and she sighed in relief.

"He's right, the portal is collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical," Selvig said as she returned to the conversation below. There was something different about him now. He didn't look at Loki with terror. Whatever Loki had done to Barton he had done to Erik too.

"Well then," Loki said, almost undetectable from her distance.

Barton drew a gun and shot Fury, grabbing the case with the Tesseract. Annie restrained the urge to jump and kept her mouth shut. Barton attempted to open the door, but to no avail. He typed in a few things and gave his eye scan, and the door refused to budge. The emergency protocol had worked. They were all trapped in there, with the portal about to collapse in on them.

_You knew the risks when you agreed to this job, and if this guy is going down with you, be damn proud that you stopped him_, she silently comforted herself.

"An emergency protocol has been activated. Only the agent who activated it can shut it down, or the director," Barton said, unconcerned. He glanced over to where Fury was lying. His chest didn't seem to be moving.

"The director is out. So looks like we have to find the agent who activated it."

"Where can it be activated?" Loki asked.

"Any of the computers. Some hidden panels in the walls, and that lift up there," Barton replied, gesturing towards Annie's hiding spot. She pressed herself on the floor as much as she can as to not be noticed. "One of the scientists requested to go up there earlier to review some footage. My bet is on her still being up there," he continued.

"Well well well, someone is playing hide and seek," Loki said dangerously. A bolt from the spear appeared above the nest. She bit her lip trying to keep herself from making a sound. Another one hit the bottom of the station, jostling her slightly. One more flew in just above her head before she raised her arms up.

"Don't shoot anymore. I'm coming down," she said more confidently than she felt.

"That's a good girl," Loki said with a grin.

She climbed down, walking straight to them. She could make out details now, like Barton's and Selvig's eyes matching the color of the blue in the staff.

"Deactivate the protocol," he commanded.

"No." Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Fury getting up and limping towards the door.

"Then I'll make you," he said, putting the staff in front of her chest.

"Ah, I wouldn't do that," she said quickly, leaning back and trying to stall. "I'm assuming this is what you did to Erik and Barton. But their eyes changed blue. My eyes are clearly violet. If the scan depicts my eyes off even slightly it will block us out and we all will die in here," she said, keeping her voice steady.

Loki threw a dirty look towards him and then turned his attention back to Annie. Fury overrode the protocol, quietly slipping out the door. He mouthed, "Do what they want," before the door closed silently. Annie flicked her eyes back to Loki, looking him dead in the eye.

The two guards that Loki turned went to either side of her and grabbed her roughly. Barton put a gun to her back. "There are other ways to force you," he explained. She glanced towards the energy at the top of the room and contorted her face into a mask of fear.

"Alright I'll do it! There's no need to force me. I'd rather not die by an energy blast anyway," she agreed with a tinge of worry in her voice to make it convincing. Loki narrowed his eyes in suspicion and nodded. They walked over to the door and she hesitated over the control pad. _I'm trusting you Fury_, she thought before entering the information to open the door.

The door opened a foot. Fury was on the other side, grabbing Annie and shoving her behind him while shooting at the group at the same time. "Run!" he said gruffly.

It didn't take more than that. They ran down the hall to the garage, having only a few seconds lead that was shortened by Fury's limp. Scattered shots rang down the hallway, none hitting their target but some getting close.

Agent Hill was waiting for them at the end. "What took you so long? The building is about to collapse," she exclaimed as they leapt into a car.

"Just drive Hill, we don't have time. Barton and Selvig have been compromised. The only reason we're out alive is because of Dr. Townsend," he said as Hill hit the gas.

Loki was right on their heels, Barton jumping into the driver's seat of another vehicle and Loki into the bed of the truck. Before long it was an all out shooting war between Loki and Fury, neither hitting their marks. Annie kept her head low and wondered what she had ever done to deserve this.

A blue wave of light shot past the two groups, and the building began to fall into the tunnel. Hill slowed slightly, stunned by the light.

"Keep going!" Annie yelled. It was too late; Barton took the opportunity and hit the corner of their Jeep, spinning them and effectively taking the lead. Hill managed to stop it and they continued to drive on, now chasing instead of being chased.

Several more shots were fired, but now the attention was focused on not being crushed by the building above. It collapsed only a few inches behind their car. Annie watched in horror as a particularly large rock landed on the tire and put a huge hole in it. Hill lost control and they flipped, landing just at the end of the tunnel.

The building stopped collapsing several feet behind them, and they watched as Loki drove away. He smirked and waved at them. Fury and Hill were instantly on their feet, pulling out their guns and running after the car. Hill paused at the end and looked back, seeing Annie struggling to get up.

"Go! You still have a chance at catching them, I'll be fine," Annie chided, slowly standing on her feet. Maria nodded and ran after Fury and Loki. Annie stumbled over to a wall and leaned on it. She wiped her forehead, blood coming off. She took a breather and stayed where she was, knowing full well what could happen if she over-exerted herself with a head injury. A creeping feeling crawled its way up her back. She looked back and her eyes widened.

"You're a clever one aren't you? You could be valuable to me," Loki mused.

"But, how, we watched you drive away," she stated obviously. He waved his hand as if swatting away the idea.

"Simple enough illusion. It got rid of them and now you are here alone for the picking." Her head screamed _Run!_ but her body refused to respond. He lifted up the staff and rested it just over her heart. "This is true peace," he said as she felt her mind being ripped away. She screamed, trying not to lose herself in the blue light.

She was being pushed down into a corner, and she clawed with all her might to stay afloat. She felt herself break through for just a second, feeling immensely tired. The last thing she saw was a surprised Loki bathed in blue before blackness encompassed her.

**Have had this one stewing in my head for a bit so I finally wrote it down. Reviews appreciated! Less OC's than Unknown Child, but this is OC-centered.**


	2. Discovery

**Wow, I totally didn't expect the reaction I got to the first chapter. That made my day. **

The room smelled like multiple people had used it as a bathroom when they shouldn't have. That was Annie's first thought as she slowly reentered consciousness and remembered what happened. Her eyes felt like they had ten-pound weights on them as she slowly peeled them open.

She took a moment to examine herself. Her head wound was gone. There was no more blood on her head, and she couldn't feel a contusion anywhere. She was still in her clothes from the day of the attack, nearly spotless. Next she examined the room.

There were bars as a door. A small white toilet sat in one corner with a sink next to it, and she was lying on a small mattress. A jail cell. Simple enough.

She stood up and reached for the bobby pin that she always kept in her hair. It took a moment, but the lock eventually clicked and she pushed open the door. Glancing around to make sure no one was there she crept out. The only way out was to the left, a few feet down a stone hallway. The cell she had just left seemed to be the only one there.

"So not a prison. Check that off the list of possible places I'm at," she mumbled to herself. Slowly walking down, she checked to make sure no one was in the hallway. There wasn't. "I thought this guy was clever." It would have been nice to have a challenge.

Several yards down, some noise could be heard. It got louder and louder the farther she went. She turned a corner and went back to the empty hallway immediately. There was a massive group of people, working on hundreds of different projects at a time. Peaking around, she noticed several wearing lab coats. Good.

Annie strode confidently out, acting like she belonged there. It worked. No one gave her a second look. There were two doorways leading out on either side of the room. Nothing hinted at what could be at the end of them, so she picked the one to her right and prayed that it wasn't a dead end.

Just as she reached the doorway, a soldier turned her around. "I haven't seen you around here before," he said, looking at her with suspicion.

_Please let this be a day my eyes look blue_.

"I'm new. Loki brought me in here to assist Dr. Selvig. I'm just going to find another one of his assistants. Is that a problem?" she asked as calmly as possible.

He gave her another once over and let go. "No, I guess not. Be back quickly," he ordered before walking up. She sighed in relief and turned around to walk away, only her path was blocked by a man wearing leather and metal armor. Green and black armor.

"You really are quite the talented one. I had expected it to take about another half hour before you made it this far. Bravo," Loki sarcastically praised her.

"Where am I and what the hell am I doing here?" she demanded.

He tsked. "Oh Anastasia, that is your full first name correct? You are in no position to be asking any questions. I have several questions for you, however, like how you resisted my control," he said, circling her.

"How do you know my name?"

"Agent Barton told me. He is quite the informant," he said with a smirk.

"What did you do to him?" Annie shouted. Barton may have been an ass, but he was her comrade. She had to protect him.

"Ah, I answered one of your questions. Now you have to answer mine." He grabbed her neck and shoved her against the wall. "How did you resist the Tesseract's power?" he asked menacingly, a few inches from her face.

Her hands flew to her neck, trying to pry his hands away. "I..don't…know. Let me go!" she choked out. He released her and she crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath. He kneeled down beside her.

"That was harsh. Here," he said, offering a hand. She looked at it for a second before spitting at it.

"This whole good cop bad cop thing, not gonna work," she said, getting up on her own. Her back was pressed to the wall, Loki standing ominously in front of her, preventing any sort of escape.

"I'm not playing as any cop; I am seeking information as to whether or not you will be useful to me," he said simply.

"Even if I was of any use to you, which I'm not, I'd never help you," she spat.

"Are you so sure of that?" he questioned, slowly inching closer to her. "You see, all these busy little bees, including Selvig and Barton: they are working on a little project. And this project will give me control of your precious Earth. Once I have control, I can make every pathetic little human on this planet feel the same thing these people do: peace. Is my goal so horrible? A world filled with peace? Your people have tried to achieve it for years, and now I will finally make this dream a reality," he said almost seductively. Like what he was doing was the right thing.

"It's not peace if your force feed them it," she replied, pressing herself as far against the wall as she possibly could.

"Perhaps 'force feeding' peace, as you put it, was the only way," he suggested.

"There's always another way." Annie stopped trying to distance herself, changing tactics, and looked him straight in the eye, standing confidently. "Now, if we're done with this attempt to get me to join your side, I'll be leaving," she said, kneeing him where it hurt and sprinting down the hallway. She reached a set of stairs and saw a door at the top. She took the stairs two at a time and threw open the door.

There was Loki, standing in the door well. "Please. You honestly think I didn't think you would do that? I'm the God of Mischief, I know simply little tricks." He grabbed her arms and they were back in the main room.

"What…how did you…what the hell?" she asked in a panic.

"You don't tend to complete sentences when you are confused, have you noticed?" he pointed out. She stayed silent. "Well, if you are done with our banter, I must present to you your choice. Work with me to achieve my noble goal, and you will live like a queen," he offered.

"I will never help you," she replied viciously.

"Then you will die like a dog," he said, throwing her to the ground and pointing the spear at her. The blue light in the middle of the odd knife began to get brighter and brighter, and Annie knew she was about to die. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see her death.

_Better to die free than to live as a traitor,_ she reminded herself and waited for the blow. But nothing happened. She opened one eye and saw a grinning Loki, the staff now pointed at the ceiling.

"I knew that you had potential," he said, looking like someone who had just seen Santa.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, reeling over the fact she wasn't dead.

He kneeled in front of her. "You, my darling, just sent me a telepathic message," he said excitedly.

"There is no way-"

"Oh yes. Only you will not be dying free nor will you be living as a traitor currently. You will be living imprisoned until I can unlock your full potential and you are persuaded to join me," he said, pulling her up. Annie's eyes widened in shock.

"I must have mumbled it, it's not possible," she stuttered.

"Again, not completing any of your sentences. We'll fix that. Agent Barton, please escort Miss Anastasia to her more permanent living quarters. I want her comfortable," he said, waving Barton over. Clint grabbed her and started leading her through the other doorway she had seen.

"Barton, I know you're in there, please you have to know this is wrong, let me go, we'll grab Selvig and make a run for it," she pleaded to him. He didn't even look over at her.

"I'm not insubordinate Doctor, so don't even try," he said. She gave in and let herself be lead to her room. It was pointless to try and run. Hawkeye would over power her in a second and if that didn't work, there were at least 50 soldiers in the room leading to the exit. No, she would have to bide her time and wait for an opportunity. She only hoped that she would be able to recognize it.


	3. Blood Stains

The room was much nicer this time. It was stark white, with a cushy queen-sized bed and a proper bathroom in an adjacent room A few books were stacked in the corner on top of a small television that only played two channels, neither of which were closely related to the outside world. If it hadn't been for the impenetrable glass wall that allowed anyone to see what was going on in the room, it would have been almost homey.

After skimming through the books for several hours and then tossing and turning for several more, exhaustion and the fall of adrenaline finally allowed Annie some sleep. She dreamt of the kidnapping happening all over again, only instead of her standing there like a rock she had found the sense to run. She didn't know where it had come from, but it made her feel slightly better in the morning.

There was a change of clothes waiting for Annie the next day: a simple white t-shirt and jeans. There was a slot in the wall big enough for things like a tray of food and folded clothing, but not large enough to fit a hand through.

_At least the guy is semi-considerate. Sort of_, she thought as she showered. She couldn't be seen showering, Loki had given her books to read, her breakfast hadn't been terrible, and they had supplied clean clothes. She had to remind herself she was a prisoner and not a guest in some fancy hotel.

Outside the glass, waiting for her was Loki, still in full armor. "Do you ever change? Or wash your hair? I swear there's more grease in your hair than in a pile of bacon," she asked with faked distaste.

"Do no think taunting me will ease your escape," he said.

She shrugged her shoulders. "You never know. Why are you being so hospitable anyway? From what I've heard you should be torturing me to get what you want."

He chuckled. "I thought it obvious. I prefer willing servants. Bars and cockroaches are reminders that you are not here of your own choice. Distractions are your friend."

"And you think a swanky room with hot showers and a couple of old smelly books will make me magically forget that I don't want to help you in any way, shape or form?"

"No, but it will remind you that I am not entirely a monster and you might be more inclined to help me. Besides, you do not seem to have any trouble with this 'swanky' room or the 'smelly' books as you put it."

"You do realize I'm never going to get comfortable now that you've said that, right? Not that I was going to, but now it's for sure."

"We'll see about that."

Her expression turned to that of wariness. He was a bit confident in his ability to turn her. "What are you doing here anyway? Most people enter someone's room with a purpose, especially you."

"To activate your ability, to see how far you can go." Annie's defenses immediately went up. He laughed without mirth. "What, do not tell me that you thought I would simply leave you here to rot? No, I've made it quite clear I wish to use you and your ability."

"And what makes you think that I'll even pretend to try and use this telepathy power that I supposedly have?"

"Because of this." He bent two fingers toward the hallway and a young woman was dragged in by Barton, her hair a ratty mess of blonde, cheeks wet with tears, blue eyes bloodshot and her clothing ripped.

"Please, please let me go," she begged, her voice hoarse. She'd probably been screaming since she had been kidnapped.

Annie's eyes flicked to Loki, huge with shock. "Why isn't she under your control? Who is she?"

He grinned maliciously. "I thought that the life of a woman in a similar position as you would create a…sympathetic situation for you. A bit of motivation," he explained. He nodded to Hawkeye, who pulled out a knife and held it to the young woman's throat. Annie ran to the glass wall, ramming into it to try and break through.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" she shouted, staring the girl in the eye and wishing she could save her somehow.

_Think it_, Loki's voice said in her head,_ Beg me with your mind to save her_.

_You fucking bastard, you let that girl go right now you fucking monster, or I will kill you the second I get out of here_, she shouted at him in her head.

"I'm waiting," he taunted. The knife pressed tighter into her throat.

"Help me!" the woman screamed, cut off by Barton's hand covering her mouth.

_I'm trying, God I'm trying, just hold on!_ Annie refused to let an innocent life die because of her.

Loki sighed. "Perhaps this is not enough motivation for you." Barton stood up and put the knife to his own throat, Loki taking the young women and put the scepter to her throat. "You seem fond of protecting your colleagues. Perhaps this will be enough for you to display your power."

"You monster!" she screamed. She looked desperately between the two people. Her colleague and a stranger, their lives threatened by an insane man. She closed her eyes and concentrated on sending one message.

_Just don't hurt them. Please for God's sake don't hurt them_ she pleaded. Her eyes opened after hearing the clang of a knife dropping. Barton was looking at his hands as if it was alien, like he didn't understand how the knife had ended up on the floor. Loki smiled.

"Was that so difficult?" he questioned. The girl began to sigh in relief, her face relaxing, thinking she was out of danger. Loki grimaced at her and sliced his spear across her throat. Her eyes widened for a moment before she collapsed to the ground, her eyes staying open as her blood stained the white tile. Annie screamed and pressed herself against the glass wall, pounding against it to get to the dying girl.

"You fucking liar! You just killed her in cold blood!" Annie kneeled down and watched as the light left the girl's eyes.

"I never said I'd let her live. Even if I did I am the God of Lies, so what do I care?" he said flippantly. "Get someone to clean up this mess. I do not enjoy blood sitting here."

"You want me to think you are not a monster, and yet you do this? What the hell are you playing at?"

He turned around. "Balance, my dear Anastasia. Balance is the key to all control," he said before leaving, leaving Anastasia confused with a dead body in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I am so incredibly sorry," she whispered to the girl in front of her. Annie didn't even know her name; she was just a nameless girl dead for the cause of a villain. A sob escaped her lungs before she hushed it down, keeping her strong demeanor on. There had to be cameras watching her every move.

Her mind immediately began to analyze the situation, using all of the investigative skills she had from her science background. Slowly it occurred to Annie that maybe Loki wasn't lying, maybe she did have some sort of power. She had seen crazier things, of course those were all on a microscopic level, but telepathy or even telekinesis certainly wasn't a reach. How else would Barton have dropped that knife? He was an assassin; it was not like he had butter fingers. If she truly did possess the power of the mind, as did Loki…

Annie kept her expression neutral, but inside she was screaming with joy. An idea was rooting itself, growing into a full-fledged plan. It would take time, yes, but if she developed it properly, oh yes it would be her ticket out of there. She lay down on her bed and began to meditate, the first step she knew of to gain control of her mind. It would be the key to her escape. The girl's death would not be pointless.


	4. Practice Makes Perfect

A guard checked on Annie hourly after the body was cleaned up, glancing in before walking away, seeing nothing but a girl sitting on her bed, an open book in front of her. What he didn't see was her scrunched-up brow, furrowed in concentration, attempting to access the guard's mind every time he showed up. After the third time and not being able to get anywhere, she grunted in frustration and threw the book across the room.

"Favorite character die or something?" Clint asked snarkily, appearing out of the corridor.

"Sure, something like that," Annie replied, relaxing her face to a more neutral expression. "I'm surprised that you have the free will to talk to me," she commented. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I have permission to. Don't know why, don't care."

"Haven't used it till now, how come?" she asked curiously.

"Because I know people, and any person not trained to see what you saw earlier, combined with the fact they were just kidnapped and saw what happened at S.H.I.E.L.D., would be on the verge of insanity right now. Instead, you are sitting here, acting like nothing happened. It's a little strange."

"I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. You know we all get basic training in dealing with catastrophes," she attempted to excuse her behavior.

"Yeah but you're a scientist, stuck in a lab all day. You weren't trained to deal with someone being killed in front of you."

"That's what makes it easy to move on. I'm a scientist; I'm cool and logical at all times," she proposed.

He shook his head. "But you're still human. Distractions will only work for so long. Unless you have been through worse you should have broken down a long-" He paused, as if something had interrupted him with a correction. "But you have," he said, a smile playing on his lips. She froze, all of her muscles tensing. "The train wreck. That makes a little more sense now. What's one girl dying compared to hundreds?"

"Any life lost is a tragedy," she snapped, tears stinging the back of her eyes. She balled her hands into fists, refusing to look at Barton.

"There it is. I knew there was a crack in there. Everyone has a crack. You're just distracting yourself with your plan of escape, which, by the way, won't work."

"How do you know it won't work? How do you know that you won't end up helping me escape?" she questioned, wiping the tears from her eyes and acting strong again, seeing an advantage.

He snorted. "I told you Doctor, I'm not insubordinate."

"But you are. Agent Romanoff being alive is proof of that. You are insubordinate all the time and it's almost always for the better. And I know you are still in there somewhere, just itching to rebel against Loki," she said, standing directly in front of Barton.

"Why would I fight the man who has promised me peace?" he said calmly, but a flash of doubt crossed his face. She restrained a grin as he turned away. The seed was planted, and all without any power. "Consider it. The Tesseract could answer all your questions about that night," he said as he walked off. She stared at his back until he disappeared down another corridor. Annie shook her head, determined to not let Loki or Barton or whoever get in her head. Her questions would have to remain unanswered for another day.

The guard brought her a tray of food and she simply picked at it. It wasn't unidentifiable slob, roast beef and potatoes, but all of her appetite had vanished with the conversation.

Loki appeared in front of her room. "The food not to your standards, Miss Anastasia?"

"Three visits in one day, aren't I special?" she muttered. She looked up at Loki. "You know you are kind of on my shit list. I have no interest in speaking to you. You killed that girl for no reason, so getting anything out of me isn't gonna happen," she said, not changing her expression.

"Would you rather her have lived under my control?"

_Damn_. "No. No I wouldn't have," she admitted. "But you could have always, I don't know, let her go."

He laughed heartily. "And let her tell someone where I am? Really, I thought you were more clever than that."

"It was worth a shot. That girl had family Loki, people who cared about her. How could you just rip her off the streets like that?"

He looked mildly annoyed as he said, "Her name was Joy. She spent her childhood in an orphanage and was homeless when I found her. She had no job, no friends, and no family. She had no potential. Does that make you feel better?"

"She was still an innocent person! What does it matter that she was an orphan? She was a person too! Who are you to decide who does and who doesn't have potential? Who are you to decide who lives and who dies?!" she shouted. It was impossible to hide her anger, threatening to boil over at any second. She did not want to hear this, not after her conversation with Barton.

"But she had no one who cared for her. What was the point of her existence if no one cared that she lived?"

"There's always a point! Alone or not, there is always a point!" As she yelled the last word, a book behind her exploded in a shower of paper and binding. Loki restrained a small grin and Annie knew she had to reign in her emotions. She took several deep breaths and calmed herself.

"You're emotions are key, but I'm sure you have already noticed," he commented, smirking.

"Yeah, I've noticed. Now, are you going to let me get some sleep or are you going to continue bugging me for the rest of the night?"

"I think I will continue to pester you. It is quite enjoyable." He sat down Indian style and gestured for her to sit as well. She rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed. There was a moment of silence as they each waited for the other to say something. Annie laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"So, I thought you were going to pester me?" she said, not liking the feeling of his eyes on her.

"Tell me, what did you feel as you watched the train burn in front of your eyes?" Her head spun faster than a bullet to look at him. "To not hear the screams that you expected, but to merely hear the flames consume everything that you loved?"

"How do you-" she started, sitting up.

"You were left alone. So painfully alone. And you can't stand the thought of anyone else feeling alone as you did." Annie put her fingers to her temples, closing her eyes and attempting to shut him out.

"No, you are not doing this, Barton already tried and it's not going to work. Just leave me alone." She imagined a wall made of titanium surrounding the inside of her head, sealing her off from any of his manipulations. She kept her breathing even and thought of her cabin that would be the first place she visited when she got out and Loki was stopped.

Loki's eyes widened. "You never cease to surprise me Anastasia." He stood up. "You may open your eyes, I am done for tonight. Good night, sleep well."

She warily opened her eyes and noticed he was gone. "Crazy. Completely and totally crazy," she muttered to herself before collapsing back on the bed. All she could see was Joy, slowly dying in front of her. As she fell asleep, the image became twisted. Now, Joy was outside a broken train, burning, neck still pouring out blood. Annie screamed before falling asleep fully, somehow pushing through the image into unconsciousness.

**I hate this chapter. I've worked on it for way too long and gotten nowhere new, so here it is. **


	5. Escape, So They Say

The next day was dead silent. There were no visits, no guards checking on Annie, absolutely nothing. It was concerning, though it gave Annie the privacy she wanted to practice. It occurred to her that might be exactly why there was no one around: to see if she would get anywhere on her own, but that was not a problem for her. She would need to practice either way if she was ever going to get out of there.

It took several tries before Annie was able to force herself to bring up the painful memories required to cause the anger and sadness she needed. Fear was impossible; fear was an emotion that was felt in the moment and could only be used in the moment. Even then, it was highly uncontrollable. The last two times she had used it, it was completely by accident. Anger and sadness were still unpredictable, but there was a measure more of control, and they appeared to be good triggers.

All the rage from being kidnapped and tortured flowed through her. Since there was no one to practice on, she focused her emotions at one of the books that she hadn't decimated. She closed her eyes and reached one of her hands out, imagining the energy flowing through her fingertips to the book and lifting it up. One eye opened nervously and didn't see anything. She sighed in frustration and closed her eyes again, shutting them tighter as if it would help.

Everything was focused on that book. She pictured it was Loki and that she was tossing him across the room straight into that stupid glass wall. That book was him, and she was going to get her revenge.

A distinct _thud_ was heard and she grinned. She didn't have to open her eyes to know that she had succeeded. Now if the young brunette could do it without bringing tears to her eyes, and with a bit more control, she would be set.

She spent the next several hours practicing and beginning to refine her power. For a while all she could do were violent maneuvers: explosions, throwing things, and nearly knocking herself unconscious when a book flew towards her head instead of into the bathroom. It wasn't until she reigned in her emotions that she could delicately lift the book off the ground, and even that took a couple of tries.

Telekinesis had not been her original goal for the day. It was useful nonetheless, though not necessary for her grand plan. It strengthened her mind and that was all that was important.

Her stomach rumbled and once again she wondered where the hell everyone was. "So much for courtesy," she mumbled under her breath.

She lay down to relax for a few moments and rebuilt her wall, not wanting to let her emotions make her weaker instead of stronger. There was a limit to everything. Just as she began to nod off, she sensed someone looking at her.

"So I wasn't abandoned after all," she said, attempting to sound disappointed as she sat up.

"Alone for too long and you would probably figure out how to get out," Hawkeye replied.

"I already know how to get out, I just need another day. And some people," she said, looking bored. Mentally she was reaching out into his mind, trying to gain access. He went to the side of the glass wall and started punching in some numbers.

"You don't have another day. We're leaving," he said, still with a neutral expression. Annie faltered.

"What?" she asked. Very delicately she entered his mind, searching for any sign that he was lying.

"We were doing the first part of the plan today. The next step involves you." The glass slid open, disappearing into the wall like it never existed.

"He really thinks I'll help him? He hasn't exactly done a fantastic job of convincing me." Still searching, she found a small blue object in his head. There was a small crack in it.

Barton merely shrugged his shoulders. "Loki apparently thinks he has. Now, let's go." He walked into the cell and grabbed her arm roughly, pulling her to her feet. She imagined a wedge being put into the crack; all it needed was a hammer.

"Clint you really don't want to do this," she started. Annie couldn't form the hammer. There was a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her if she broke open the crack, it would not end well for Barton.

"And why not?" he seemed bored as he led her through the complex. It was deathly quiet.

"Because you're hurting your friends by doing this. Selvig, Fury, Hill, everyone."

"I don't have friends Doctor." He still spoke in that bored tone.

"What about Natasha?" He nearly stopped for a moment. "You saved Romanoff's life once. There was a reason for it. Remember that reason. Please, help me stop Loki."

Doubt crossed his face. For a moment, his eyes flashed to their normal steely blue before the bright blue of the Tesseract returned. "Romanoff was a mistake. That's all."

"No, no she wasn't. You wanted to save her like you had been saved by Fury because you saw potential." Inklings of memories were beginning to flow from the crack, allowing Annie to see into them as well. The wedge was going deeper and deeper. They were at the bottom of the stairs when Clint began to shake his head.

"What are you doing Annie?" he asked, looking at her with desperation.

"Waking you up. Come on, think of your bow. How you got it, how you met Fury, and Coulson. The mission to kill Agent Romanoff. Come on remember who you are!" She backed away as Barton put his hands up to his head as if he were holding it together. She silently prayed that she hadn't just made him a vegetable.

He collapsed to his knees and was panting. He screamed before completely falling to the ground. She ran up and kneeled next to him. "Barton, Barton wake up," she muttered. His eyes fluttered open and she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his normal-colored eyes. "Thank God!" She gave him an awkward hug before helping him up.

"What the hell…" he mumbled, still trying to recover.

"No time for lollygagging. I'm assuming since Loki destroyed the base in New Mexico that Fury moved all operations to the Helicarrier, so that's where we need to go. I'm sure you can find it," she said, pushing him up the stairs.

He stopped her as they reached the top. "I'm sorry for everything I did," he said solemnly. She mashed her lips together.

"It wasn't actually you. And if you really want to make it up to me, you'll get us the hell out of here. Now let's go!" She opened the door and they ran out to the jet that was waiting for them.

"Hey, what are you two do-" the pilot said before being punched by Hawkeye and thrown out of the jet. He jumped into the pilots seat while Annie took the copilot's seat.

"How'd you break me out anyway? Loki had a pretty good grip on my head," Clint asked.

"It was all you. I just gave you the push." He nodded and they sat in silence. Barton felt extremely awkward sitting next to the girl that had just saved him (a dramatic change in roles for him) and Annie still felt some resentment towards him.

It was several hours before Clint was able to locate the Helicarrier and they were able to see it. A voice buzzed over the intercom once they saw it.

"Unknown jet, state your intentions."

Barton picked up the transmitter. "This is Agent Clint Barton. I have Dr. Annie Townsend with me and we need to land."

There was silence for a few moments. "One moment." Annie looked over at Clint worriedly.

"They're not going to let us land. As far as they know you're Loki's puppet and I am too. That or they think I'm dead."

"It will work out. Don't worry."

Another buzz. "Agent Barton. Either you're a dumbass for saying it's you or it's actually you. Put Townsend on," Fury's distinctive voice said. Annie smirked and Barton chuckled. He handed the radio over to her.

"Fury, I'm alive and well," she said.

"How do I know it's you and you aren't under Loki's spell?"

"Because I managed to keep Loki trapped for several minutes without him noticing, and I managed to escape. Why the hell would I be stupid enough to give myself away now?"

She could practically hear him snickering before he buzzed back, "Yep, you two are safe to land." They both grinned and Clint landed on the deck, both of them hopping off and running in to where the air wasn't so thin.

"Come on you two, we've got to debrief you," Fury said as they walked in. Annie rolled her eyes and followed him, but there was a pit of dread in her stomach. She'd have to tell them about her powers, and she knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. would not hesitate to exploit them. It was for the greater good at least, and that was a source of comfort as she was led to the interrogation room.


	6. Plans Go Haywire

**A note on the universe: I always operate under the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which means no Spiderman, and no X-Men. I say this because I make references to comics. Also, this is the same universe as Unknown Child (this takes place after it). Don't have to read Unknown, but it's a nice reference for those who have. And before you panic, the reference has nothing to do with the plot of the sequel. **

Annie had been set up in a room adjacent to the rest of the Avengers. She had been struck by a sense of wonder for a brief moment when she ran into Captain America in the middle of the hallway before realizing she was on nearly equal footing with them. Technically the only other person with real powers was Thor. Iron Man's were all man-made, Captain America didn't really have any powers, he was just at the peak of human physicality, Hawkeye and Black Widow were well-trained, and Banner's powers was from gamma radiation. Still, she knew all of them could kill her with their bare hands and that she was just another scientist, not a hero. Not like them.

The only downside to her room was that it lacked color, just like her old cell. It was unfortunate, but at least she could customize this one a bit. She fell back on the bed and an intercom buzzed. "Dr. Townsend, Dr. Banner has requested you in his laboratory." She pressed the button next to her bed.

"Are you kidding me? I was just grilled by Fury about my capture. All I want to do is sleep."

"I just send the orders, I can't change them." The voice clicked off and she sighed in frustration. She changed into a familiar pair of jeans and t-shirts that S.H.I.E.L.D. had recovered from her room at her apartment in the city and put on a lab coat before heading down.

She gave her fingerprint and eye scan before it let her in and walked in. She walked up to Banner and offered her hand. "It's an honor to meet you Dr. Banner. You called?" He awkwardly shook her hand before looking down at his tablet.

"The honor is mine. Anyway who can handle Loki's crazy and make it out sane is impressive." She took a moment to look around the lab.

The room was any scientist's dream. It had the most up-to-date equipment and most of it she had only hoped to see. How Banner was not giggling like a schoolgirl was a mystery.

"I hear that you could help us trace the gamma signature on this, maybe have some info on where they are heading," he said, gesturing towards the scepter behind him. Her eyes locked on it.

"How do you have that?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of it.

"Stark and Rogers caught Loki last night," he explained. "Didn't anyone tell you?"

"No. No one told me that. Leave it to S.H.I.E.L.D. to avoid telling me something important," she said, putting her head in her hand.

"They probably wanted to keep you focused on their project instead of worrying about Goat Man," the distinctive voice of Tony Stark said. She turned around and rolled her eyes.

"Oh God. Don't tell me I have to work with your arrogant ass?" she groaned.

"Well you don't have to work with my _ass_ per se, but you could if you want," he replied with a wink.

"In your dreams Stark. Don't you have Pepper to satisfy your needs anyway?"

"I'm sure I could convince Pepper that three is company. But your eyes are a bit disconcerting. I don't like having weirdly colored eyes looking at me." He turned away and looked over Banner's shoulder at the tablet.

"Purple eyes, that's interesting. Highly unusual, though not really important right now. What's your specialty Dr. Annie?" Banner asked, looking up at her.

"Microbiology with an emphasis in microbial and human genetics," she recited easily. "My eyes were what motivated me to study it."

"Why didn't you just get a degree in Genetics then?" Stark asked.

"Because I believe the key to fully understanding life as we know it resides in microscopic organisms, not in us," she said, irritated.

"I think the better question here is why S.H.I.E.L.D. had a microbiologist working on the Cube that was clearly pure energy and had no evidence of life," Banner threw in.

"You got me on that one. Most of the time I was just Selvig's lackey. Why S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to hire me I will probably never know." She leaned back on the desk in the center of the room. "Though honestly, the most important thing right now is why Loki let himself get caught. No offense Stark, but it would take all of you to pin that guy down, and I'm not even sure that would be enough."

"Offense taken, but I know. Been trying to figure that out myself. While I don't have an answer to that I will have an answer to your first question in about an hour. I've got JARVIS hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mainframe." Annie restrained her jaw from hitting the floor.

"That's majorly against protocol Stark…"

"So is hiding the fact that you are our own little Professor X, but that doesn't bother you." She kept her expression neutral.

"How'd you find out?" Fury had decided to keep it under wraps for her own sake, which she had thanked him for profusely.

"I had suspicions, so I pushed you. When I started to irritate you that binder next to your hand started to vibrate and right now it's floating about an inch off the table. Banner's noticed it the whole time but he's too polite to say anything." She looked down at her hand and immediately made a cutting motion, dropping the binder back down to its place.

He walked up to her and pointed a pencil at her. "You, my friend, are not nearly as good as Banner at keeping everything bottled up." He flipped around and pointed at Banner. "And you! You need to stop the whole bottling up business all together. Time for you to shine Bruce!"

Bruce and Annie looked at each other and simultaneously rolled their eyes. "I'm sure both of us would like to just work on finding the Cube." She nodded in agreement. He walked over and showed her the tablet. "This is what we know so far. We've got a tracking algorithm going but our lives would be much easier if you knew where it was."

She took the tablet out of his hands and flicked through the information quickly. "Most of this is gibberish to me, but I can tell you right off the bat I don't know anything. I was stuck in a cell for three days. The only time I got out was when Hawkeye told me I was the next part of the plan then I broke the spell on him and…" She paused. "Shit."

She dropped the tablet onto the counter and ran out, leaving a bewildered Tony and Banner in her wake. "How did she figure something out before me?" Tony asked, sounding a little hurt. Banner shrugged his shoulders.

"There's a reason they brought her in."

Annie ran down to Loki's holding cell, somehow managing to find it on her own. She made no attempt at being quiet and burst in. "What the hell are you planning Loki?"

His eyes widened in mock surprise. "My dear Anastasia, how did you _ever_ escape from your cell?"

"Don't play games with me Loki; I'm sick of games. What do you got up your sleeve?"

He leaned forward in his seat. "But I do so enjoy games. And this is turning out to be one of my favorites."

She walked straight up to the glass. "Yeah, well it's not exactly on the top of my list. Though I do enjoy being on the other side of the glass for a change," she taunted. "Now, what stupid plan do you got going?"

He grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "There's no fun in telling you."

She spun on her heel and walked up to the control panel and started typing, opening the floor beneath his cage that would drop him 30,000 feet. "Fury says that the only way to disengage the clamps holding your cage in is for you to scratch the glass and then for me to press this big red button. I, on the other hand, know how to override the protocols." She flipped open the case to the button and waited. "So give me a hint, or I'll drop you."

His smile faltered. "You're bluffing. Computers aren't your specialty."

"I was bored while working on the Tesseract. I had time to learn lots of neat ways to override simple commands," she threatened, beginning to type in some numbers.

"It was rude of you to put a crack in my beautiful handiwork. I merely returned the gesture," he said, slightly quicker than he needed to, but with a smirk on his face. She flipped the button case down and closed the floor.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" she said, turning to leave.

"You remind me of a sister I once had," he said quietly.

_Sister?_ Annie didn't remember any sister in Norse Mythology. "She was quite resourceful like you. Not clever, but resourceful. Also had quite the temper." He chuckled at the last part.

"I don't have a temper. I'm just blunt when it comes to extracting information." Her head tilted slightly. "What happened to her?" she asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

"She betrayed me. So I killed her." Out of all the things Loki had said to try and freak her out, this was the scariest. Not because of what he said, no, it was how he said it. So calmly. Like it was perfectly natural to kill your family if they didn't agree with you.

"Dr. Townsend, we need to see you on the bridge," Agent Coulson said from behind her. She turned around.

"I was just about to leave anyway," she said before following him out. She could feel Loki's eyes on her as the door closed, and could almost see the malicious grin on his face. Chills ran up her spine. All she could do was figure out his plan and stop him.


	7. Bondin' Time

"Come here, I need to show you something," Barton asked when she reached the bridge.

"Um, Agent Barton, there are other matters…" she started.

"It's Clint. And please, just follow me for a moment, okay?" he pleaded. She sighed loudly and nodded. He grabbed her arm and led her through several corridors, twisting and turning.

"Clint, I need to get back to the lab, is this going to take much longer?" She partially lied. Banner and Stark didn't need her, and they knew it, but at least she could brief them on what Loki said and maybe get some more insight from the two geniuses.

"We're here," he said, opening a door to an enclosed balcony. Outside there was nothing but blue sky and white clouds. Glass held them up as they walked to the edge. Even not being afraid of heights, this made Annie dizzy.

"And why are we here?" she asked, stepping delicately. He motioned her to sit and she followed suit, sitting indian-style.

"So I could properly thank you for saving me," he said simply. "I specially requested this place to be built when I got in Fury's good books. I thought you might appreciate it."

"There's no thanks necessary. I was just doing my job. Can't leave a comrade behind," she explained.

He gave her a strange look. "You really are different. Not even a blush on your cheeks. Was that really all it was to you, saving a comrade?"

"Yeah. We aren't exactly friends. We are colleagues, and not really close ones either. But I would have never been able to forgive myself if I had left you behind, and I'm sure no one else would be able to forgive me either. I only wish I had been able to get Selvig back too, but there was no way I could have done that. Not after I broke Loki's grip on your mind." She didn't look at him, instead staring out at the thousands of feet of air between her and the ground. All the ground she could see was a tiny dot of green far below them.

"Even after everything I did to you, you rescued me. That's not just comradeship Annie. You have some underlying motivation for it," he insisted.

"I don't blame you for what happened Clint. I knew it wasn't you and the moment you were back I got us away. What you said hurt, I won't lie, but you didn't mean it. It was all part of Loki's manipulation." She stood up and smoothed out her lab coat. "Speaking of which, I have to go figure out what his current plan is. We only got out because he let us get out." Annie made a move for the door.

Clint grabbed her arm and forced her to sit back down. She squeaked slightly when she hit the glass, looking down worriedly. He threw his head back and laughed. "It's three feet worth of the strongest glass out there. You're fine." His expression turned serious again. "Look, I want to help. I don't like being in other people's debt and I'd like to repay it as soon as possible. What can I do?"

She sighed. Annie knew enough about Barton to know that he wasn't kidding, and he wasn't going to just let it go. That was the type of man he was. "Loki said that he was returning the favor for putting the crack in your head. I haven't really had proper time to think about it, being dragged every which way." She shot a glare at him at the last part.

He stared off for a second; focusing on something she couldn't see. Annie looked longingly at the door, hoping to get back to the more comfortable area of the lab. "Is there any other way to break someone away from the Tesseract?" he asked after a moment.

"Probably a good knock to the head would do it. It would just take longer and hurt the other person a hell of a lot more." Fury had asked her that to see if it was necessary she go into the battlefield to free Selvig and any other living operatives. As long as the brain got a little rattled around, there wouldn't be much need for her.

"That's not it then," he mumbled. He suddenly shot up, still holding onto her arm and dragging her up with him. "Come on, I know a way that will help us both focus."

Her eyebrows shot into her hairline. "What?" she asked, a little concerned.

"It's nothing dangerous Doctor…"

"Annie," she interrupted. He gave her a weird look. "It's Annie."

"Alright Annie," he tested the name on his tongue. "Whenever I need to think I practice. I think it'll do both of us some good."

They walked in silence the rest of the way. Clint opened a door to a huge range. There was targets set up at the end, a variety of arrows on the far wall, and several blocks varying in size directly in front of her. "What are the blocks for?" she asked, not seeing any purpose for them.

"For you. Fury mentioned getting you practicing with me and Nat during the debrief. Looks like he knew you'd end up here eventually."

"Why does no one tell me anything?" she muttered.

"Cause you'll figure it out on your own."

She threw a hand at him. "And that! Why is everyone making me out to be a genius? I'm logical and have decent reasoning skills. I'm no Banner or Stark. I'm just Annie."

"You don't give yourself enough credit." He snapped his folded bow open. "Most people have no logic. Anyone who has a drop, much less an entire head full like yourself is considered a genius."

"Is this how you think you should flirt to someone intelligent?" she asked jokingly.

"Just stating the facts Annie," he replied stoically, but there was a touch of a smile at the corner of his lips. "What's your trigger?" he asked, picking an arrow from the wall.

"You mean what gets my powers going?" He nodded. "Anger or sadness usually. I can do small things without them, but the more powerful the action, the more emotion I need." He gestured for her to show him. She turned to the smallest block and concentrated on it, lifting it off the ground.

"Throw it," he encouraged. She looked at him warily before pushing at the block, sending it flying to the other side of the room. He had started shooting arrows without her noticing, some of them spitting out nets and grappling hooks. "Come on, it helps. Just do it." She rolled her eyes and started to observe the arrows and the way they flew. He was landing them in nearly the exact same spot, with the same path. An idea came to her and she lifted the next block. Annie felt a little guilty, but she peaked inside his head to see if he had noticed what she was about to do. He had, and was planning a different trajectory. It was a game now.

He kept switching on where he was going, her rapidly trying to keep up and recalibrating her own shot. Barton lifted his bow up and shot mid-thought. Annie reacted almost on instinct and threw the block, cutting the arrow off on its way to the farthest target. Clint looked surprised for a second as the block was torn apart by the small missiles.

Annie's face burst into a grin and she laughed at his expression. "Bet you didn't see that one coming!"

He returned the smile. "I think this is the first I've seen you really smile."

"Same could be said for you mister 'I have one facial expression.'" They both laughed and sat down next to each other. "Ya know, telekinesis is great and all, being able to throw stuff around, but I'd love to practice the telepathy part more. It would be way more useful for getting information. But it would require me to have a living person, and I really don't feel right poking around in someone's head for my own sake. Unless we're joking of course," she said, relaxing for the first time in days.

"Have you tried throwing around anything living? That could be helpful."

She faced him. "I'm not gonna end up in the battlefield. We've got Loki locked up. If Luck favors us, Banner will locate the Cube and Thor and Loki will be gone with minimal damage," she said a bit more seriously. She leaned back on her arms. "Even if I did, I can't throw anything biological. Trust me, I tried when Loki was forcing me to practice."

"You don't believe that we'll be that lucky and neither do I. He's got something going and we're going to need everyone to take him down. I know you and Banner want nothing but to stay in the lab, but we can't afford that. Not now. You have to be ready to fight with us, even if you have to throw the clothes on people instead of them." The corner of his mouth lifted up in an attempt at a smile.

Annie shook her head in resignation. "I was trying to be optimistic; obviously that didn't work." She paused. "As much as I hate to admit it, Loki will probably get the jump on us. The guy is clever as hell and if anyone could escape that cell, it's him. And we will have to fight. If I'm going to help, I'm going to have to practice everything, and I don't think we have long. I'm gonna need some hand-to-hand combat training, because I'm not going to survive five minutes if I can't stop a knife from slipping in between my ribs. Get some armor, build some defenses up in my head, and-"

They simultaneously looked at each other with matching expressions of fear and horror. "No, no, no," she started, grabbing her head.

Barton grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. "Don't panic Annie. Keep breathing and stay calm. Are you sure…"

"What else could it be Clint? Nothing else is possible. Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." She scanned her titanium wall, trying desperately to find anything off.

"Annie, do not let him get to you. You stopped him once without any practice, you're stronger now, you can do it again," he said calmly.

"He wasn't even trying the first time; he didn't expect me to fight. And when I did, I was out for a day! Now he's had time to prepare, to do it more slowly, carefully. Like a surgery." Her eyes were wet and she strained not to let tears spill over. She looked down into her lap. "I can't lose my mind Clint. It's the only thing I have left," she said softly.

He kept an arm around her shoulder, holding her against him. She went rigid at the touch, too stressed and unused to it to relax. "You have me now. You've got allies. And we will help you fight." She nodded numbly. A small part of her was chastising herself for being so weak, and she let it grow until the tears stop forming and she could stand up.

"I have to tell Fury our suspicions, but I'm coming back, and when I do, we're starting combat training, okay?" she said when her voice had become steady again. He shook his head in agreement.

"See you in a minute," he said with a small salute, looking at her as if he was unsure she was really okay. Annie walked out like she was, but she couldn't keep up the strong act forever. She had to make it until Loki was gone, and then she was free to break down.

**I know it's reaching the end of the Avengers movie plot, but I'm nowhere near done with my plots :3**


	8. Another Day, Another Cell

**Unknown Child fans! (Really sorry normal readers, the site needs a status thing) I have plot ideas! Expect the first chapter of the sequel up within the next week! Also, THERE'S SO MANY OF YOU REGULARLY COMING BACK! Let me love you! Thank you all so much for following this. Now, back to your randomly-scheduled chapter.**

"House arrest?!" Annie screamed. Hill lowered her head, not wanting to be giving her this news.

"It is standard procedure that if there is a potential security risk they must be detained in a safe location. All of the residential rooms have the potential to be cells as well. I'm sorry Dr. Townsend but I have to escort you back to your room," she said regretfully.

"Director Fury, please, I know that I am potentially dangerous but there is more of a chance of me being compromised if I'm stuck in a room instead of practicing. What the hell do you think Loki was trying to do by locking me up!" she pleaded, turning towards Fury. Reluctance was written all over his face.

"I have to agree with Agent Hill this time. You're too much of a liability if what you're saying is true. I lost several of my finest agents and only got one back. I'm not losing another person. The safest place is in your room." He tilted his head at Agent Hill and she gently grabbed Annie's arm. She turned back to Fury and looked at him desperately. He turned away, looking disappointed, but his mouth curled up slightly and his eye distinctly winked. At least she thought it was a wink. It was close to impossible to tell with his eye patch. She walked solemnly to her room, wondering what Fury had planned.

**xxx**

Hawkeye shot ten arrows in quick succession, not adding any special features to them. He split three of them. Fury wouldn't be happy, and Tasha would probably chastise him again, but it was worth it this time.

Once again, he'd sent Annie to her jail, this time of his own free will. He knew exactly what would happen if she went to Agent Hill and Fury with her concerns and still he let her go.

Two more arrows. A distinct cracking sound.

Barton had so much more control over Annie's life than she would ever realize. No matter how far he ran from her she always came back, popping up in the most unusual ways.

Another arrow.

This time the decision was for the best, right? She'd be safer in her room, safe from Loki, from herself. Damn Loki, damn him! It was his fault he couldn't seem to run from her. To get away from this stupid girl who could destroy them all, and didn't even know it! The scientist, who Clint couldn't help but betray over and over again even after she saved him. Only one betrayal she knew about and had forgiven him for. Others, well, he hoped she would never find out.

An explosion. One arrow with a detonator still attached. He reached for more arrows and they were all gone. Most were destroyed. He folded the bow up and roughly put it back in its place, slamming the case lid down. The door slammed open as he walked out, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

He didn't know where he'd go. Back to the Observatory maybe. He heard a buzzing in his ear. "_Barton, report to Dr. Townsend's room_," Fury's voice buzzed.

He put a finger to his ear. "On my way," he muttered, trying to keep the unwillingness out of his voice.

"_Bring a communication device with you. She officially needs one_," he buzzed. Clint nodded absentmindedly, not really caring that Fury couldn't see him. Damn it all, why did the universe keep forcing him to see her? Just get the job done, and then she'd leave. If she didn't, he would. He'd done it before he could do it again.

**xxx**

Annie kept her composure as she waited for whatever Fury had planned to unfold, Anger raged just underneath the skin, and several times she caught the computer and the chair floating off the floor, threatening to be thrown. She ordered some paint from the closet and threw it around to vent some of her frustration, trying to make the room a bit more lively and less like her old cell. It was still a cell, but she'd be damned if it stayed colorless.

She lifted the paint out of the can and splashed it angrily across the other side of the room just as the door opened. Whoever opened it ducked automatically, somehow knowing what Annie had been doing. They straightened and Annie automatically noted the cat suit, confident posture, and bright red hair. "Agent Romanoff. So you're my saving grace?" she said, acting like nothing had happened.

She looked around the room, eyeing the splashes of color everywhere. "I see what you've done with the place. It'll piss Coulson off. I like it." Her face remained neutral the entire time, though there was a hint of a smile in her voice.

Natasha walked in. "I'm no one's saving grace. I'm here to train you. You may have powers like the rest of them, but I can already tell you are more normal than the rest of them."

Annie laughed mirthlessly. "Trust me, I know. I'm just trying to do what I can to help. Are we heading to the training room?"

She shook her head. "No. We're waiting on Barton and then the doors will automatically seal. Then the training begins." Annie scowled.

"I'm not exactly happy with Clint at the moment. I told him I was going to report it to Fury and he just let me get arrested again. So if a stray knife happens to go into his gut, you can't say I didn't warn you."

"He only did what he thought was right," she explained.

"Yeah, just not what was best for me," Annie mumbled, sitting on the edge of the bed. Natasha sat next to her and they sat in silence.

"Thank you," Natasha suddenly said, "For looking after Barton when I couldn't."

"Someone had to. The guy was brainwashed, and I'm pretty sure you would have had someone's head if anything had happened to him."

Natasha shrugged. "Probably would have. I'm still angry that I had to let a scientist watch over the man, but it's better than nothing."

"I feel like I should be insulted," she said as an after thought.

"You're not though because you know it's true." Annie conceded to that. Even with training, she was a scientist first and foremost. The door opened and Natasha turned around. Annie didn't move besides a slight twitch of her finger. A splatter went through the room and she smirked before turning around.

Clint was covered in blue paint, dripping down his face and clothing onto the carpet. He wiped the paint from his eyes. "Was that really necessary?" he asked, irritated.

"That was payback," she stated simply. The corner of Tasha's mouth twitched up as she restrained a smile.

"Don't laugh," he said with fake menace and pointing at Nat. The door slammed shut behind him and a whirring noise could be heard, sounding like thousands of gears grinding next to each other.

"They weren't kidding when they said this could be a cell. How are you guys getting out once were done for the night?" S.H.I.E.L.D. would have the cells be impenetrable with two master spies and several heroes constantly in and out.

"We're not." Romanoff went to a wall that was covered in paint but with nothing else and started tapping in an apparently random place. After a few seconds two more beds came out of the wall on either side of hers and landed softly. "These rooms are equipped to house at least 10 people. We'll be staying with you until the threat has passed. Meals will be automatically sent to us through several openings on the wall."

"They really do think of everything don't they?" she mumbled. "Alright let's get started."

Barton stared in wonderment at this girl. She wasn't pissed at him. Well, she was, but she wasn't coming after him with a flying chair. Just a stupid prank and she was ready to start training. She just kept defying all of his knowledge of people. He pulled out the communicator from his pocket and held it out to her.

"You're going to need this. It'll keep you in touch with the rest of us," he said, watching her reaction carefully.

Her eyes brightened. She was officially a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Thanks." She placed the tiny communicator in her ear and could feel it burrow in, integrating with her body.

"If you ever need to contact any of us, just hover your finger over your ear and say who you want to contact. The communicator will sense those in combination and send out a signal to theirs," he explained.

"Okay, good to know." Her face burst into a smile. Maybe things would be okay for her.

Clint wondered why she was so surprised. She was one of the few people Barton knew that truly deserved to be a member. He certainly didn't. At least helping her fight this new menace would delete some of his past. He looked up at Tasha, hoping she would understand. She did, him seeing the knowing in her eyes. They were in the same boat, wanting to erase their past wrongs. And helping this one innocent girl would certainly be a step in the right direction.


	9. Gettin' Down Deep

**Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. This last week...well it's been really rough on me, so I haven't had much time nor been in a good emotional state to write for this. But I'm back now.**

The training was brutal, but it felt good to work her muscles again. That was one disadvantage of being a scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D.; you didn't get out much. Annie had basic knowledge of guns and lock picking, required to work at a top-secret facility, and Black Widow and Hawkeye built upon that. If you asked her, however, she'd probably say they tore it all down and then beat their techniques into her. They were fluid though, letting her develop her own way of shooting a gun or avoiding a knife that differed from their own, as long as it wasn't completely ridiculous.

Five hours passed before Barton finally called it quits, citing the need for sleep and food. Annie's muscles burned with the exertion, but at least now she didn't feel so defenseless. If she was called into battle, she felt she could survive for a few minutes in combination with her powers. She was no super spy like her teachers, but it was better than nothing.

Natasha and Clint started to eat dinner that had been brought to them an hour earlier. Even with all the training, Annie didn't feel the urge to eat. Just some sleep and she'd be okay. She went to go to collapse on the bed and was dragged back. Figuring it was a test; she automatically sent her elbow back and twisted out of the grip. It was easily caught, but she nearly made it out of it.

"Impressive, though I was dragging you back so you'll eat. You have to keep up your strength. All of this will be for nothing if you pass out from hunger in the middle of a fight," Hawkeye warned. She glared at him before sitting down and picking at some of her food, only munching on a couple of bites of it.

After a few minutes of nothing but the sound of forks scraping up food and teeth chewing, Natasha finished up her plate and moved it to the side. "So how'd you end up working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" she asked.

"Don't you know that already? Have all the details who are working for them?" Annie asked through a mouthful of food.

"That's Barton's job, not mine. I'm usually undercover. Barton's the one dealing with agents most of the time. I'm just curious how you ended up in this mess," she said frankly. She glanced at Barton, who was looking down at his food. Annie took a moment to phrase an appropriate response; she wasn't entirely positive how she had ended up there either. All she knew was the accident had happened and 6 months later Coulson was knocking on her door.

"There was an accident about a year back. A train explosion. I was the only survivor. I guess they were investigating it and saw my research and decided I'd be useful on the Tesseract project. Don't know why considering I couldn't do anything of use, but eh, it got me out of the house for the first time in months."

"What was your research?"

"I was beginning to dive into the intricacies of DNA that pertained to the human brain and other microscopic organisms. The nucleus, see if any junk DNA really was just junk, stuff like that. That's the bare bones of it." Natasha chewed that over.

"And you chose S.H.I.E.L.D. over continuing your research?"

"Coulson said that as soon as I was done with the Tesseract project they would pay all funds pertaining to my research. And the pay was amazing," she explained.

Natasha looked over at Clint. There expressions were neutral, but Annie could practically hear Nat yelling in her head "What the hell?" Her eyes widened when she realized she actually _had_ heard her. She was going to have to find a way to block out the telepathy.

"What's a matter?" Annie asked.

"It's just a bit unusual for S.H.I.E.L.D. to take such an interest in a person to the point of funding a research project not pertaining to them unless there was something of value involved." Annie tilted her head as Barton glared down Natasha. "What? It's the truth."

"Can we just talk about something else then? S.H.I.E.L.D. can hear everything we're saying and I'd rather them not have more of a reason to keep Annie locked up here," Barton chipped in.

"Alright. What was this train explosion and why were you the only one who lived?" Barton hid his head behind his hands and turned away.

"Nat, I thought you were a master at getting out information and you ask like that?"

"She can handle it. Being a spy doesn't always require you to be delicate Clint."

Annie's face went somber. It wasn't something she talked about; too many messy emotions and memories that were already difficult enough to keep buried. "I don't even know what happened. I was searching for answers when S.H.I.E.L.D. found me. I got off the train for a few moments to go find a restroom and I came back and watched as the entire thing went up in flames. It was horrible to watch," she said emotionlessly, fighting the images of the fire back down into their corner.

"I'm sure." She gave Barton a look that said they'd be talking later about this. It took all of Annie's power to restrain from getting a glimpse in their head. The curiosity was clawing at her insides though; she could feel its nails digging into her skin. _No, I will not use it on the people who are trying to help me_, she chastised herself. She pushed the food away from her and stood up from the table.

"I'm showering and going to bed, I'm done talking about this," Annie said and walked into the bathroom. She spent probably ten minutes more than necessary in there, trying to keep herself under control. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn't it have been someone else, someone trained for this shit? Loki just had to pick her and open up a door that had been locked tight. She refused to allow him the satisfaction of seeing her break. Just get the Tesseract, and everything would be okay.

She walked out and saw that Natasha and Barton were already in their beds, asleep. "Damn, and I thought I fell asleep quickly," she mumbled under her breath. She climbed into bed and tucked herself under the covers, the paint from earlier eerily reflecting off what little light was in the room. It was going to suck waking up the next morning and not only seeing the creepy paint, but also how sore her muscles would be. Hopefully the pain would keep her focused though, keep Loki out longer.

A shadow passed over her and she instinctively shot up, ready to defend herself. "Relax, it's just me," Barton's voice said as the outline of his body sat at the end of the bed.

"What do you want?" she questioned.

"To make sure you were okay. There was a lot more to the train accident then you were letting on."

"I'm not some delicate flower. I'll be fine, it was a year ago and she wanted to know about it."

"A year ago is nothing for what you went through, and I'm sorry you had to go through it," he uttered softly.

Tears stung the back of her eyes. "Don't apologize, it's not like it was your fault. I just don't want to focus on it, okay?

Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the minimal light, allowing her to see that his head was turned away. "Because of that accident you're in this mess, with no one to help you."

"I have you guys," she threw out, trying to make the situation lighter.

"It's not the same. Me and Nat, we never had family, never stayed still. It was easier for us to adjust to new people, new places. You had them though, something stable. And that makes it that much harder to let other people in."

Her face scrunched up in old pain. "Why are you saying this?"

"Because to be truly strong you have to accept your weaknesses, and this is it. You're family."

Tears rolled freely down her cheeks, but she didn't make a sound. "How can they be my weakness if they're all gone?"

"How can someone's loyalty be their weakness? It simply is. Embrace it."

Annie strained to keep her voice down. "They're dead. All of them because of that stupid accident. No one can use them against me. Those months afterwards were the worst of my life, I'm pretty sure that I can handle anything now." She said the last part strongly, wiping away the tears.

One moment he was sitting at the end and next he had her in a tight hug. She awkwardly sat there, not really sure what to do. "Don't turn out like Nat and I did. Don't act like nothing touches you. Be strong, but don't be detached," he whispered. Just as suddenly as he had been right there he was gone, curled up in his own bed. She sat there staring at him for a few moments. The man was more confusing than Loki sometimes.

She settled herself back down into her bed and thought about what he had said. Embrace it. How the hell does one go about embracing their family's death? And what was that whole spiel about not turning out like him? More questions plagued her mind until she fell into an uneasy sleep, her mind and body too tired to deal with anymore stress for the day.


	10. Giving In

A train rolled quietly by. Too quietly, Annie thought. She was sitting on a chair outside a small building, perhaps a train station? There was something poking her back, and she flipped to see a piece of the chair sticking out. The grass was beautiful and lush in most places, dead around the tracks. Towards the horizons there were a few mountains, and the train seemed to disappear into them. This was an incredibly detailed dream if it was a dream. She pinched herself and nothing happened. Maybe she'd been teleported. If so she didn't remember.

"Worry not, you are dreaming," an unwelcomed voice said behind her.

"Of course you would be here," Annie moaned as she spun on her heel to face Loki.

"I _am_ in your head," he stated with a smirk.

"No, not yet. If you were really in my head you'd have taken over by now. You're still not completely in," she reassured herself.

"Good girl. Did you find the crack?" he asked.

She shook her head reluctantly. "No, unfortunately I didn't. Otherwise you wouldn't be here at all."

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that." His arrogance was wearing on her already-thin patience.

"Why, because you're an all-powerful Norse god? Guess what, that doesn't freak me out. We'll still stop you, and you'll get your ass kicked in the process," she snarled through bared teeth.

"We? You mean you and that so-called team Fury is constructing? I will tear them apart from the inside out." His previously relaxed demeanor turned menacing. "And you will be at the forefront of their downfall." Annie rolled her eyes; she was sick of all the games he tried to play.

"As soon as we have the Tesseract you'll be back in Asgard and we'll all be happy. Banner and Stark should be done while we're talking in fact."

"If I don't destroy them beforehand."

"You're fucking nuts. You're not going to get at them."

"The crack is larger now. Did you discuss something emotional with Barton? Allowed me in a little more? Because I am that much closer now." She muttered profanities under breath and silently prayed that the science twins were almost done.

"So is this helping your grand scheme at all? Bugging me in my dreams as well as real life?"

"Yes, actually, it is. I-" He cut off and looked up. "I'm afraid I must cut this short before I am located." She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head in confusion.

"What are you-" A voice suddenly boomed through the dream, a female voice.

"LOKI I SWEAR TO ODIN STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE PLANNING RIGHT NOW OR I WILL PERSONALLY KICK YOUR ASS AND NOT LET THOR HAVE A CHANCE! THIS IS MY DOMAIN AND I WILL FIND YOU!" the girl voice shouted. Loki rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration.

"Goodbye dear Anastasia, I will be seeing you soon," Loki said with a smirk. Everything went black and Annie shot up in her bed. She was half-tempted to believe it was a nightmare, but she knew that was a foolish hope. She rubbed at her temples and laid back down when the intercom came on.

"You're brain activity suggests you are awake now. Is this true Miss Anastasia?" A semi-robotic voice said.

"JARVIS? Yeah I'm awake," she whispered, looking at Clint and Natasha to make sure they hadn't woken up.

"I will patch you through to Stark then." There was a buzzing sound and Tony's familiar voice appeared.

"Hey Misses X, how you hanging?" his cocky voice questioned.

"Stark how are you in the P.A. system?" she muttered.

"I told you, JARVIS has been hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system. I can probably get you out if you want. We found something you'll find interesting." There was a sort of sadness in his voice, not something characteristic of Tony Stark.

"Can't you just tell me what it is from here?"

"This is something you gotta hear in person sweetheart. Here, I got JARVIS hacking into the codes for the cell door. You should be out in a minute. I'll put the cameras on a loop so they don't see you." A hissing sound was heard and the clicking of locks before the door popped open. She glanced at Barton and Natasha, wondering if she should stay or not. They had to have woken up from all of the noise, but they weren't getting up and stopping her. If they thought it was safe for her to go, so would she.

Annie changed into her normal clothes and slipped out the door, checking to make sure no one was passing by. When the coast was clear she headed down to the lab, diving into the shadows once after seeing Hill walking past her. The door was open so she walked right in. "You guys got a location on the Tesseract yet?" she asked immediately.

"Not yet, but we should within the next couple of minutes. Wherever Loki took it it was decently hidden," Bruce said, checking the computer before going back to analyzing the scepter. Tony motioned her over to his screen and flipped it towards her.

"We need to find it fast; I'm not going to be able to keep Loki out for much longer. Once he actively tries to get in my head he'll win," she said solemnly.

"Yeah yeah, we'll be fine, but I got something on that accident of yours a year back. Turns out S.H.I.E.L.D. was more involved with it than we thought. Here, look at this report." He tapped up a box in the corner and an incident report popped up. She enlarged it and read the first two lines.

_Location: Outside of [RESTRICTED]_

_Incident: Train explosion. [RESTRICTED] explosives set along sides of cars. Detonation went as planned; all cargo destroyed. Unexpected survivor. Anastasia Townsend. Closely monitored. Potentially part of Transmission [RESTRICTED]. _

The rest of the report JARVIS was still trying to hack into, but Annie had seen enough. They had manipulated her the whole time, only seeing her as part of a plan. The thought ran through her mind over and over again: _They killed my family; the bastards I work for killed my family._ She turned away and bowed her head, refusing to look at either of the scientists.

"Annie are you okay?" Bruce asked, concerned. He gave Tony a look that said maybe that was too much.

"No, no I'm not. I work for a bunch of killers that just manipulated me as badly as Loki has. I know this job ain't pretty but my entire family…all of them…gone because of their own needs." Her hands balled into fists and her mouth turned into a snarl. "How dare they! How dare they just senselessly murder an entire train full of people and not care? What the hell is wrong with these people! And I'm one of them, oh God, I'm one of them." Tony came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sweetheart you need to calm down…" he tried to reassure.

"I will not calm down! This is just, I can't process this and…" Bruce began to look worried.

"Annie head back to your room," Tony commanded.

"I'm not taking orders from some two-bit kid with daddy issues!" she growled, her eyes flashing blue for a split second. Tony turned to Bruce.

"We might need the big guy Banner," he warned.

"You don't need anyone, I'm fucking leaving," she yelled before storming out. As her foot left the room she crumpled, excruciating pain filling her head. Her hands flew to her head as she screamed, the crack suddenly obvious and growing every second. Through the wall of pain she sensed people around her, and her eyes flew open. Around her Barton, Natasha, Tony, Bruce, and Hill were all standing over her. She opened her mouth and said weakly, "Run."

Annie let out a blood-curdling scream and everyone around her flew into the walls. Barton and Nat were the first to recover, going after her again, but she merely threw up her hand and they were down the hall. Annie cracked her fingers out and rolled her head around. "Finally," she said with a sadistic grin, her blue eyes glinting.

**I like crossovers. Don't judge me.**


	11. Hope is for the Weak

Bruce rose to his feet. He could feel his pulse rising rapidly. His fist clenched and his breath quickened. Annie walked out of the lab with the scepter and saw him. She tilted her head to the side and gave a sickly sweet smile, the kind that made you want to run from whoever was giving it. "What's a matter Brucey? Getting a little pissed?" He knew he could get it under control if she didn't do anything else. He regulated his breathing.

"Annie I know you are in there. You gotta fight him," Banner tried to help.

"This isn't Loki, this is just a different version of me. A side the old Annie never let out to play." She started walking around him. "He does that you know; doesn't replace you. He just takes the side of you people don't like and shows it off to the world. For example, your clenched fists, tight jaw, and the strange breathing pattern suggest you are about to Hulk out and are trying not to. And Tony is about to try and tackle me from the side." She spun on her heel to the left and shot the scepter at him, sending Tony flying. "See? Still clever and observant. Just having a lot more fun with it."

"How do you know how to use that?" he asked.

"Loki put the information in my head. Pretty easy to use. You just think." Annie shot at Banner. "And fire." She said the last part with a malicious grin as his skin began to turn green. She ran down the hall to Loki's cell before Bruce could complete the transformation. She'd rather not be in there when Hulk took over. Banner tried desperately to hold on, seeing all the people that surrounded him. He stumbled into the lab and locked the door down. With a window of glass it would not take long for the Hulk to get out, but he would at least be away from them.

Annie strode confidently down, zapping anyone that came in her path. She entered the room to see a smiling Loki in the cell. "Wonderful to see you again Miss Anastasia."

"Great to be back." She walked to the panel and began overriding the codes locking him in. The door opened and she threw the scepter to him. Walking down the hall, Loki would either shoot anyone that they came across or Annie would throw their weapons and clothing down the hall, dragging them with it. Loki turned her down the hall, heading towards the base center.

As they turned the final corner before the bridge, an arrow zipped past her head. "That was a warning shot Annie," Hawkeye said.

"Of course it was, because you wouldn't miss if you really wanted to hit me," she replied with an edge of sarcasm.

"You know I wouldn't. Annie I know you can beat him, come on!" He kept an eye on both of them, but an arrow was pointed at her.

"I'd rather not. Like you said, why would I fight someone who has promised me peace? Oh, and the wonderful fact I can control my powers. Let's see, orphaned as a child, trained as a marksman, stuff we already knew, and… Ooo." She grinned. His face turned pale. "What do we have here? Where's your usual ruthlessness, your neutrality? You couldn't shoot me." She kept talking as Loki appeared behind him, unnoticed by Hawkeye due to an image still being right next to her.

"You're right, I can't shoot you, but I can shoot him," he said, pointing the bow at the fake Loki and shooting just as the real one raised his scepter.

"Look out!" she screamed suddenly, the words tearing out of her throat unbidden. Hawkeye's eyes widened as he dove forward into a somersault, narrowly avoiding Loki's attack. She ran past him to stand next to Loki and shook her head. "Seems like old Annie is still fighting," she grunted, not particularly liking the feeling of a battle in her head.

"Do you have control?" Loki asked as Hawkeye nocked another arrow.

"Of course I do, I'm ten times more powerful than her." She raised her hand and Barton flew backwards, hitting the wall with a loud _clang_. He didn't get up. She turned back to Loki and smiled. "Now, shall we bring down the house, literally?" He returned it and they walked in, him immediately taking down the nearest row of agents. Annie headed towards the main computers where Fury now stood.

"Dr. Townsend what the hell is going on?" he yelled as she approached. He pretended not to notice the new hue of her eyes and walked up as if he were just going to talk. He made a move, attempting to grab her arm and twist it behind her back. She saw it coming though, a quick peak in the mind was all it took, and she was able to side step, grab his arm, and shove him off the platform. Several more people came at her but they were easy to deflect.

It was two minutes before all communication, security, and two engines had been shut down. The Helicarrier began to fall. She looked up and saw people in black armor shooting down S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but many of them weren't really getting a chance to get in. Romanoff, Hill and Coulson were holding them off.

"They yours?" she asked after walking back to Loki.

"Yes, I had them planned to get here around now," he said, looking a little irritated that they weren't there sooner.

"Well you got us a way out of here? I can't fly one of those jets."

"One of the men is certainly capable." She nodded and they headed out to the landing area, hopping into one of the jets secured on the ground. She glanced behind her and saw a red suit.

"You didn't die? Pity," she said as Tony flew in front of her.

"Annie come on girl, your smartass knows this is wrong," he said.

"Yeah, and I really don't care." She could almost hear Tony sigh as he raised the pulsors. She rolled her eyes but before she could do anything Loki shot him with the scepter. Tony barely moved, having expected it, and shot at them anyway. She latched onto the Iron Man suit with her mind and shoved, trying to put some distance between them. The damn thing was heavy as hell though, not allowing her any give whatsoever. Several soldiers came to their rescue and shot at him, distracting Iron Man long enough for them to walk in and unclip the jet, sending them straight into the sky. She looked out the window to see a green blob falling from the carrier and Tony rushing back into the falling structure, probably to try to get the engines working again. She turned back to Loki, a bored expression on her face.

"So, what's the next step?" she asked.

"We head to the Tesseract and open the portal."

"And I was necessary for this?"

"You'll keep any unwanted visitors away."

"So I'm nothing but the muscle?" She pouted slightly. She knew she was meant for more than that.

"For now, yes. But once Midgard is mine you will help me rule it. There is just the little matter of achieving that goal." Annie nodded in understanding. Once you got through the labor, you reaped the rewards. She knew that well.

As the flight wore on, Annie fidgeted with her hands, occasionally feeling old-her attempting to claw her way back, quickly shoving her back in her place. Towards the end, Annie leaned back in her seat and put her hands in her pocket, and felt something. A small metal object, from what she could tell without pulling it out, in the shape of a cone with a sharp point. A point sharp enough when she touched it it broke the skin. Annie managed not to flinch, and kept silent, seemingly perfectly normal. Around the base of the cone there seemed to be something similar to paper on it.

_Why are you keeping it hidden?_ She chided herself.

_Because I'm still here, and you aren't looking at that arrowhead until I tell you to_, Old-Annie responded.

_Oh you're still here? I'll let you have this one, only because I'm feeling sentimental over you_.

_I _will _take control back._

_You keep telling yourself that. _She chuckled to herself; oh the irony of it.

"Something amusing Anastasia?" Loki asked, sounding a little angry.

"The look on Agent Barton's face when I attacked him came to mind," she lied easily. He stared at her intently for a few moments before glancing away.

"I hope that was it," he said as the jet landed on Stark Tower, depositing them.

"I need to use the restroom, I will be right back," she said, wanting a chance to more thoroughly look at the apparent arrowhead.

"So close? Go assist Selvig, there will be time for such things as soon as we have accomplished our goal. It will not take long." She sighed and nodded, turning and heading up the stairs to the reactor. The arrowhead would have to wait just a little longer.


	12. Remembering

**I know. I'm a terrible person. But here it is. **

Stark looked up and debated for a second on whether or not to go after them. The Helicarrier was still falling though, and there were innocent lives in there. Supposedly innocent at least. He directed himself back into the bridge. "JARVIS, can you get the systems back online?" he said into the shell, going over to one of the computers.

"Working on it sir." Small lights began flickering on the edges.

"You got to work faster JARVIS or we're gonna end up pancakes at the edge of New York," he muttered, worried. He had faith in his A.I. but the ground was rapidly approaching. Fury was barking orders to try and get the ship over the water, where at least they'd have a chance, but gravity was not on their side. Natasha suddenly came up and pushed Stark out of the way. "What are you doing?"

"I'm a spy, I know how to hack into computers." Using the tiny few lights, she inserted a USB drive and a series of commands popped up. She rapidly typed as the carrier fell through the last layer of clouds. The screens became bright and their descent was immediately slowed. The whir of engines was heard and everyone became quiet, not quite believing their ears.

"Nice work Widow," he complimented, standing up straight and removing the mask to see better. She didn't react, only staring at the screen for a moment before running to Hawkeye, who had just ran in. Stark followed, Fury close behind.

"Who do we still got?"

"Hulk and Thor are gone. Thor got thrown out trying to control Banner. Cap is M.I.A. right now, we're currently using the GPS in his communication device to locate him," Agent Hill said, a gash on her head from Annie throwing her.

"What about Annie?" Barton asked, his face passive and his voice hard.

"We are trying, but the signal is blocked. Somehow she figured out how to turn it off."

"Loki did," he mumbled. Clint shook his head. He was still having trouble comprehending the fact that the girl who wouldn't break was now in his enemy's control, suffering the same thing he had. God only knew what he would do to her. He only hoped he could repay his debt and help her.

"Get scanners looking for Banner, Thor, Cap, and Townsend," Fury turned to look out the window. "It might be too late by the time we find any of them, but we have to try."

"We have a master spy, an expert killer, the most top secret agency in the world, and moi. We have to be able to figure something out," Tony said, sitting down at the briefing table.

"Loki's not going to want to be hidden. He was getting sick of it when we were waiting in the bunker for the machine to be complete. He's gonna wanna be seen. Got any public arc reactors?" Hawkeye explained.

Stark's eyes widened just as one of the scanners started beeping. "Stark Tower," Hill said, looking up from her tablet.

"Let's move!" Barton shouted, not hesitating to head to the Quinjet. _We will stop this Annie. I promise_.

**XX**

Loki hadn't been lying; it only took about ten minutes to get the reactor powering up the Tesseract harness. Now all that was needed was a few minutes for it to charge up and the portal would be opened. The Chitauri would enter Earth and victory was theirs. But Annie's mind wasn't on victory. Her curiosity was filled to the brim by the tiny arrowhead in her pocket. As soon as Selvig said she could go she was off to the privacy of one of the private rooms, locking the door behind her and finally pulling out the sharp object.

It was one of Hawkeye's arrowheads, which she could instantly tell. She'd gotten a good look at them while they'd been training and it wasn't hard to recognize the distinctive features of the notches within the arrow and the more curvy shape. Inside it was something white that looked an awful lot like paper. Clicking the small trigger on the side, the arrow folded in on itself until it was nothing more than a little cove holding a folded note. She picked out the paper and set down the arrow, slowly unfolding it.

At first she scoffed at the little note. What a pathetic attempt. But slowly her eyes widened as she realized old-Annie was no longer crawling her way back up; she was running and clawing viciously. "No! No I am stronger than you!" she was yelling at nothing. Her eyes flashed violet again, and Annie ripped herself out of the prison that was her mind.

"No you aren't," she said calmly, the last blue in her eyes fading away in wisps, the tiny note being placed in her pocket. "Thank you though, for showing me how to control my powers now." She walked back in and immediately manipulated the men's perception of her, just her eyes so they still appeared blue. One of the first things she had done without even realizing it, back at camp. It was nice to finally know how she had gotten as far as she had all those days ago in the bunker. She only hoped she could keep the manipulation up against Loki.

And her test had come quickly. Loki walked up to her. "Annie, are you ready to watch the world become ours?" he asked, standing next to her and putting an arm around her, the other hand holding his scepter. He was in full body armor now, horns and all. She tried to mimic the grin that evil-her had used.

"Of course my king," she said. He gave her an odd look as a blue light shot from the portal. She wanted to knock the machine over, push it over the edge of Stark Tower, but one look at it and she knew it'd be too heavy for her powers. Guilt was beginning to rise up and she pushed it down. There would be time for that later.

Loki looked out. "It seems your old friends have finally decided to join us," he commented with a sneer as a Quinjet rose up to the tower.

"Loki release Dr. Townsend and shut down the Tesseract." He grinned that awful grin of his and shot at the plane, hitting one of the wings. From Annie's position, she saw someone jump and roll out of the plane onto the landing deck. Someone very familiar. The plane started going down, but it was at a lazy pace that didn't worry her. As long as they made it to clear ground they'd be fine. All her attention was focused on the figure now racing towards them, bow ready to fire. Immediately she put herself in-between Loki and Hawkeye.

Barton ran up and saw her; only seeing the blue eyes that he knew meant she was still under his control. Inside he despaired that his last plan hadn't worked, hadn't brought her back. "Annie come on, please, don't do this, you can stop now!" he tried to reason with her.

She smiled and let her eyes flash violet for a moment, winking at him as she was faced away from Loki. It barely registered what was going on when she said, "And why would I want to stop now when the party's only just begun?" On the last word she spun around and latched her mind onto Loki's armor, picking him up and throwing him out the window. She turned back and was immediately wrapped in a tight hug.

"Thank God, I thought you were still under his control," Clint mumbled over her shoulder. She patted his back and returned the gesture tightly, feeling reassured by the solid presence of him.

"You broke me out. I can't thank you enough." She didn't let go quite yet, trying to fend off the shakiness from coming back. He stepped back and held her at arms length, looking at her in the eye.

"My debt's paid, no need to thank me." He turned to the portal. "Do you have any idea how to shut it down?" Annie sighed; as much as she wanted to tell Clint there was every reason to thank him and how grateful she was, there was work to be done. Earth-saving work at that. Personal matters could be set-aside for now.

"No. I never asked. But I know who we could ask," she said, jogging up the stairs to the main deck where the portal was. Selvig was walking around the machine, checking and making sure everything was still functioning. Above them, the first of the Chitauri were beginning to race through. "Shit," she muttered under her breath. It wouldn't be long now until the whole army was there, and with God knows how many of the Avengers missing there'd be no way to stop them from taking Earth back.

Selvig looked up. "Annie, what are you-" She grabbed him and slammed his head against the pavement, knocking him out cold.

"What the hell Annie!" Clint yelled.

"Like I said, cognitive recalibration through head trauma. We don't have the time to delicately worm my way into his head and break it from the inside out like I did with you. Until he wakes up we gotta do the best we can to keep these things from getting very far. Are communications back up?" Hawkeye nodded. She snapped her fingers next to her ear and the communication device whirred to life once more. "Status report: who do we got and who is still missing?"

"Professor X? Is that you?" Stark's voice buzzed.

"Yeah it's me, I'm back and ready to shut these aliens down. But I'm gonna need to know who we have and who we don't."

"I'm on 6th. The plane crashed but we managed to land in Central Park," Widow buzzed in, not bothering to question her. They all knew on some level it was her.

"Cap reporting for duty. Got stuck in a bit of fighting with some HYDRA agents."

"Why are there voices in my ear Midgardian?" Annie restrained a chuckle.

"Me and Barton are up on Stark Tower. Cap, I need you to organize the ground forces and try to keep the civilians protected-" She was cut off as one of the Chitauri came down and began shooting at her. Annie dove to the side while Clint quickly and efficiently pulled out his bow and shot the alien straight in the eye, bringing it down in an instant. "Nice!" she complimented. He didn't react, keeping his face solemn.

"Alright, Stark and Thor, I need you guys to keep to the skies. Take down as many of those fliers as you can; I don't want any strays making it out of the city. If any of you see Banner, immediately tell me. You all copy?" They all responded with a resounding "Copy," and she turned back to Clint. He was giving her an odd look.

"For a girl who wanted to stay out of the fighting, you took the lead position well."

"I'm doing what I have to do to fix what I screwed up. For you guys." Before he could reply she swept past him. "Come on, we need to get to the roof. We'll both see and be of more use up there." Barton sighed and followed her, not wanting to argue with her with so much more to do. A tiny paper fell out of her pocket as she ran up the stairs and he picked it up, recognizing it instantly as the note that had brought her back. Perhaps the five words written on the paper would bring her back in a different way later.

_Remember: You are not alone._


	13. Die a Hero or Live to be a Villain

**GUESS WHO'S BACK MOTHERFUCKERS? **

They made their way up to the top of the tower, and even though Annie had never been afraid of heights, looking down caused her to feel a little queasy. She glanced over at Hawkeye who was already in the shooting position, looking perfectly at ease at the height.

"Annie do you think you can grab the arrows out of the bodies once I've shot so I don't waste them?" he asked as he shot the first arrow. In response, as soon as it hit home she lifted her hand, making a grabbing motion, and it flew into her palm.

She handed it back to him with a, "Yeah, I think I can," and a little smirk. He returned the grin and started shooting off arrows. After a few minutes they began to fight like clockwork, Hawkeye shooting down as many as he could, reporting anything he saw to the rest of the team, and Annie immediately sending the arrows back, taking care to hit a few more along the way. Two Chitauri began shooting at them and before Clint had a chance to shoot them down, Annie grabbed one with each hand and clapped her hands together, causing the two aliens to collide into each other and explode. He looked at her a bit shocked.

"That was majorly impressive," Barton praised.

"I learned from the best," she shot back with a grin. Their momentary reprieve, however, was interrupted by a Chitauri who suddenly came out of nowhere, throwing a small rectangular object that was lighting up and beeping.

Clint's eyes widened as he screamed, "Grenade!" and grabbed Annie before jumping over the edge of the tower just as the object exploded. Terror gripped Annie's mind as she watched the ground get closer and closer. Clint was trying to get to an arrow, but he would have to let go of her if he were to shoot it. A piece of the tower went flying by them and through the haze of panic Annie had an idea. Gritting her teeth and trying to focus, she latched onto the debris, pulling it with all the strength of mind she had and bringing it up to meet them before they hit the ground.

The metal piece wasn't flying up, and although she kept trying, she had resigned herself to her fate. Closing her eyes tight, she was mildly surprised to feel the wind get knocked out of her versus her bones breaking. Her eyes flashed open and she saw the sky above her, not getting closer, but not getting farther either. She turned to Clint who was staring at her in shock. Peeking over the edge, they were about 30 feet off of the ground.

"Holy fuck," Clint managed to say. Annie's mouth couldn't form words as she slowly stood up on the piece of metal, her hands opened and facing the metal as if they were magnets keeping it to them. Clint followed suit and made sure to plant his feet firmly on the ground. "Think you can get us to ground?"

She nodded, still in wonderment, and slowly released her hold on the metal bringing them back down to the ground. Her legs shaking she stepped off the metal and Clint caught her before she could fall. "Annie are you okay?"

Her face burst into a grin and she nodded, starting to laugh. "That was amazing!" Clint returned the smile and hugged her.

"Thank you, for saving my ass again."

"All in a day's work," she replied, letting go and stepping back onto the metal.

"What are you doing?" he asked, concern returning.

"Getting back up to Selvig. I'm pretty sure he's woken up by now and he probably knows how to shut down the Cube."

"Annie you just barely figured out how to stop us from falling, now you want to freaking fly? You're going to kill yourself!"

"This is the fastest way to get back up there and if we don't shut down that portal soon we're all going to be dead anyway! Go help Nat and Cap get the citizens to safety, I'll be fine." Before Clint could reply Annie gripped onto the metal with her mind and pulled upward, sending her shooting into the air. Clint watched her for a moment to make sure she didn't fall before shaking his head at her stupidity and going back to the fighting.

Annie restrained the urge to scream and eased up on how much she was pulling on the metal. Her flight upward eased to a steady rise and she was suddenly very grateful for the traction her shoes gave her. It was difficult making sure she didn't pull more or less than her and the metal's weight, but after about the 50th floor she began to get the hang of it, and was soon at the same level as Selvig and the Tesseract.

Easing the metal over the landing and lightly jumping off, she ran over to Selvig, who had sat up and was rubbing his temples. "Thank God, you're awake."

"My head hurts like hell…" he muttered.

"Sorry about that. We needed you back to yourself and fast. How the hell do I shut down the portal Erik?" She spoke quickly as three more Leviathans had come through. Erik shook his head, still trying to fight off the daze. Annie grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Selvig how do I shut this damn thing down!"

"The scepter…"

"What about it?"

"It can get past the energy field. Put it at the crown and everything will shut down." Annie grinned and hugged him, looking past him back into the main lobby where she had thrown Loki out of the window. The scepter was still there.

"Thanks Erik." She said before lifting up her hand and beckoning the scepter towards her.

It came flying at her, and as she prepared to grab onto it, another one of the Chitauri flew up and cut off its flight. "Those fuckers are everywhere!" She yelled and latched onto the ship without thinking, only seeing the green cloak at the last moment and releasing.

"Actually there's only one of me, you would do well to remember it," Loki replied, smirking.

"Why am I not surprised you aren't dead?" Annie asked, getting tired of the bullshit that was Loki.

"Because I am a god."

"As you like to reiterate over and over again. Insecure much?" He glared at her. "Just hand over the scepter already Loki, or I will take it by force. You're losing either way."

"Look around you Anastasia. Am I really losing?" Reluctantly taking her eyes off of him, she turned around and saw Manhattan burning. Tony was about a mile away fighting off a Leviathan, Hulk just leapt from one tall building and took down several Chitauri and Thor was attempting to strike down some of the more elite enemies. None of the ground force could be seen, and she was almost glad for that. For every flying alien that was taken down that she could see, another five replaced it in a matter of seconds. It wouldn't be long until they were overwhelmed.

"You aren't unreasonable. You understand your situation is hopeless." Annie looked down briefly before turning to him, fiery determination written on her face.

"It's never hopeless. You taught me that." His eyes widened, taken aback by the sudden determination. She let her anger burst forth uncontrolled, raising her hands and grabbing onto the vehicle firmly. Loki aimed the scepter at her. She closed her eyes and ripped her hands away from each other. A loud BOOM could be heard and she felt the wind rush past her in a burst of heat.

Annie opened her eyes and saw Loki lying in a crumpled heap three yards away, the scepter next to him. She quickly brought to it her and put it at the machine. "Guys prepare for anything, I'm shutting the portal down!"

"Do it!" all the voice resounded. She shoved the weapon through, placing it at the base of the Tesseract. All at once the light faded away, and the tear in the fabric of space sewed itself shut. She grinned as she looked up at the clear sky once more. The Leviathans had all crashed, the strong signal needed to maintain them cut off, but the Chitauri still fought. In a matter of minutes, though, they would be dead, and New York would be safe again.

"You did it Annie!" Clint shouted over the communicator. She laughed and shook her head, amazed by it all.

"I'll be done in a sec. Then we'll celebrate."

She dropped the scepter and started to turn, about to run to Erik and hug him again. "Annie look out!" was the last thing she heard before a knife was driven into the middle of her chest.

"I taught you hope eh? Now you learn death," Loki whispered in her ear as he released her and she fell to the ground, her blood draining from the tiny body and staining the tower, a stain that others would soon learn would never come out.


	14. Greater Things

**At least I didn't leave you on that cliffhanger for two months :D**

The smell of freshly brewed tea filled the air. Sunshine filled the small room and warmed it, bringing it to a comfortable temperature on the fall day. The carpets were freshly vacuumed and there was a hint of lemon from the dusting that had just been completed. The sound of laughter floated around the home, and Annie couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Sitting in the chairs that coated the room was her family, all talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company.

_Where was this again? Was this my 21__st__ birthday…. no this was my graduation. Whole family showed up_, Annie thought, chuckling to herself. She didn't really care to remember, all she knew was she felt happy here. This was where she'd had her first cup of wine too. That was probably why she got it confused with her birthday…

"Annie stop," a voice said, a voice she hadn't heard in over a year. She glanced up from her conversation and saw her dad, staring at her sternly. It instantly made her feel like a child again and she glanced at her lap, all the other voices suddenly fading away.

"Stop what Daddy?" she asked innocently.

"You know exactly what. Distracting yourself."

"I can't enjoy a few minutes with my family?"

"Not when you have responsibilities."

"Daddy I get to see you for the first time since you died and the first thing you do is leap down my throat? God I miss you, am I not allowed to be happy to see you?"

Her father walked over and sat down next to her. "You are hun. But you gotta place your responsibilities first. Just like I taught you." Annie sighed.

"I know. Might have been easier if I were dead though," she commented, playing with her hands. He put his arm around her and hugged her.

"You still got great things to do in the real world kiddo. I always knew you did." His face got somber, the face he always used when he had bad news to tell her. "There are terrible things coming Annie. Worse than this, so much worse. And you are the only person, along with that team of yours, who can stop it."

"What is coming Daddy?" He was scaring her.

Father shook his head. "I can't tell you because I don't know. There's blackness on the horizon though, and you are the only light. That's why you have to return." He patted her back and stood up. "Come on, I'll help you get back."

"It's going to be difficult. I kind of got stabbed in the chest." All he did was smile that reassuring smile that made all her troubles go away as a child.

"Never underestimate a parent," he said with a grin before grabbing her hands. "Close your eyes hun."

"Am I ever going to see you again?" she asked, panicking over the little time she had with her father.

"Of course. It'll be a little while, but I'll always see you again munchkin." He pinched her cheek. "Now close your eyes," he commanded in that fatherly way of his. She did as she was told.

"I'm sorry Daddy." A tear rolled down her cheek. Her father wiped the tear away.

"Don't be sorry for living. You aren't alone, and never will be."

A warmth bloomed in her chest. That warmth quickly turned to pain as her eyes opened slowly once more to a blinding white light. For a brief moment, she thought she was still in her cell in the bunker and nearly screamed. As her eyes adjusted and her hearing returned, however, she realized she was in a hospital. She didn't even need to turn her head and look around; everywhere people screamed and machines beeped. Looking down at her chest, she saw she was covered in a blanket. She lifted up the cover and winced at the stitches that ran down her chest.

"Well shit," she muttered, resisting the urge to poke the sore wound. She glanced up and saw doctors and nurses rushing all over the place, trying to get patients in and out as quickly as possible. Annie started to sit up when a hand pushed her should back down.

"Wow there, take it easy," Clint said, making sure she laid back down before removing his hand. "Took quite a beating there."

"Actually it was more of a stabbing, and even then it was just one stab," she returned, managing a small smile. He rolled his eyes.

"Still snarky as hell, even with two punctured lungs."

"Only that? I'm surprised."

"Yeah, you aren't the only one. There was so much blood we were sure you were already dead. Hulk took care of Loki while Tony got you here as quickly as possible. We would have had you in the med wing of Stark Tower but everyone had abandoned it right then. We're getting transfer papers now."

Although he had kept his voice even and without breaks, for the first time Annie saw what were the remnants of panic. The way his hand nervously scratched the back of his head, the way he said "dead" like he almost had to force it out, the tapping of his fingers against his thigh. Clint had been worried about her, worried about her dying.

"Clint I'm fine now. I didn't die, relax," she reassured him. He let a tiny part of his strong façade disintegrate and sat next to her, grabbing her hand and rubbing the back of it with his thumb, not looking her in the eye.

"You lost a lot of blood Annie. Doctors had to give you several transfusions and they said it wasn't likely you were going to live anyway. I don't know how you pulled through but you did." There was weariness in his eyes as if he had lost sleep over her, yet it couldn't have been more than a few hours.

"Which is why you don't need to worry. I did pull through. And there's still shit to take care of. Couldn't die with an Earth that needs defending." She smiled but didn't get the smile she expected back.

"Annie you don't understand. There are things I need to tell you. Important things. And you would have died without hearing them." The smile left her face.

"What are you talking about Barton?" There were three options in her mind. One, she was still going to die. Two, they had lost. Or three, others had died. There was another option but it was too ridiculous and she threw it out immediately. He got quiet for a moment and she started tapping her fingers anxiously. She did not like being kept waiting.

"You know what, it can wait." He looked up and saw one of the nurses with a bunch of papers. "I'm going to finish up the last of the paperwork then we'll get you out of here. It's craziness enough and they need the extra bed." He stood up and Annie almost screamed out of frustration. At least it couldn't be that important if it could wait. He looked at her for a moment before kissing her forehead and walking away.

She stared at him as he walked away and shook her head. Just adrenaline from the battle wearing off that was it. A few minutes later she was placed on a stretcher (much to her protest) and flown to Stark Tower. Barton stayed by her side the entire time, much to her dislike, and the moment she was in the tower she was surrounded by several much larger figures.

"Hey Magneto, saw you flying out there, trying to steal my thunder?" Stark asked sardonically.

"Man of Iron, she cannot steal thunder which is yours, because thunder is under my control," Thor's voice boomed. She giggled and had to stop as it was pulling at the stitches.

"Come on boys, give the girl her space. She just got stabbed in the chest and you all have something to be doing right now. Go on, scurry away," Natasha butt in, getting in front of all of them and making them leave. Stark turned around and winked before moving on, and Banner pat her shoulder. She made a mental note to apologize to him profusely later.

"Thanks Natasha," she said.

"No problem. Those boys know nothing of personal space." Annie smiled and looked down.

"Looks like I'm gonna be out of commission for a little while." She sighed and relaxed back into the bed.

"Just get better. S.H.I.E.L.D. needs you on your feet. After that whole flying stunt, I'm pretty sure you have a full-time job now." Nat managed a small grin before glancing at Clint. He nodded at her and had one of those subliminal conversations she didn't dare intrude on and Natasha left. Clint sat next to her.

"Okay. Time to talk."


End file.
